Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Before trying to control darkness and shadows, learn to control the darkness within yourself. SHADOW BENDER BY FAY E. SIMON

Title: Shadow Bender

ISBN: 978-1-62420-191-2

Author: Fay E. Simon

Email: fesimon2002@gmail.com

Genre: Fantasy/Science Fiction

Excerpt Heat Level: 1

Book Heat Level: 3

Buy at: Rogue Phoenix Press,
Amazon Barnes & Noble

TAGLINE

Before trying to control
darkness and shadows, learn to control the darkness within yourself.

BLURB

Thomas Franklin is involved in an experiment to control
the darkness and command shadows, but far within his soul, he harbors a deeper
darkness that may consume him. This secret is tearing him apart from Francie
DeWitt, the woman he loves. As Franklin gains control of the darkness and
shadows, he begins a physical change where he evolves into an unstoppable
creature. Will he be able to adjust to this change and use it for good? Will he
ever have the woman he loves or will Lewis Avery take everything away from him
as his forefather had many years ago?

EXCERPT

Sudicorp Research Center, known for
its long-standing reputation as a place for scientific research for the
betterment of humankind, was nestled in the heart of East Los Angeles where a
bunch of grungy warehouses rested. The Sudicorp building looked deserted and quiet,
except for the dim light in a window on the tenth floor.

Dr. Thomas Franklin, dressed in a
white lab coat, stood in a large room within the building.

A ruggedly handsome fellow in his
late forties, he wrestled with a machine oddly similar to a futuristic rifle
with the look and feel of metal. The lens, which sat at the end of the metallic
barrel, held a dark blue crystal, the size of a golf ball. The lights in the
room gave off enough radiance to cast shadows.

"Haven't you got that crystal
situated yet?" came the angry words of Drake Carver, CEO of the Research
Center. Carver squinted behind his horn-rimmed glasses. They had been working
on this experiment since five in the morning. The clock on the wall now said
two minutes to midnight.

After readjusting the crystal,
Franklin looked up. "It did work. Three times in a row, but the crystal
has to be aligned just right," he said in a British accent. "Now that
I've programmed the prototype to my brain waves, this thing will tear away any
shadow from its origin."

"Why? So you can tear shadows
apart?" Carver paced around Franklin and the gun bearing the crystal.

"You don't understand. I'm not
tearing the shadows apart; I am separating them from the object of origin. For
example, I will separate that chair from its shadow. From there, I will be able
to command it. The theory is to remove the shadows away from what makes them.
These lone shadows become a living entity. They can be controlled and given
orders," Franklin looked to Carver.

"So this is what you dragged me
in here for? You're trying to make shadow people?"

"No. A new kind of army; shadow
soldiers at my command," explained Franklin, pushing back a few strands of
light brown hair from his eyes. "It's all in bending the photons or using
negatively charged photons. That's where the crystal comes in. We've discussed
this before."

Carver looked around the lab, there
were a number of tables with bits and pieces of metal parts and clear lenses
scattered over them. On a table nearest Franklin was set a framed photo of a
pretty, young woman with shoulder length dark hair and dark eyes. The smell of
burning wires drifted about in the stale air. Drake Carver wrinkled up his nose
then looked back at Franklin and the metallic gun holding the dark crystal.

"The cute girl in the photo,
your girlfriend?" asked Carver, as Franklin adjusted the crystal for the
umpteenth time.

"That's Francie, my future
wife."

Carver lifted an eyebrow and smiled
at the photo. "Frances DeWitt?"

Franklin stopped what he was doing
and stared at his boss in disbelief. "You know her?"

"In another lifetime, my
friend. Don't let me distract you."

Franklin went back to adjusting the
crystal and said, "There. That should do it. Now watch!" Franklin
lifted the gun and pointed it at a nearby office chair. When he pulled the
trigger, a loud whirring noise exploded the silence and something began to
happen. Its projected shadow on the floor began to stir without any movement
from the chair. Had this been a cartoon, it would have been amusing, but to
witness the shadow peeling itself up from the floor and pull away from the
chair made Carver gasp and shudder. A creepy tearing sound, like the ripping of
fabric, echoed throughout the room.

"What the crap was that?"
Carver took a step back and looked around.

"That was the sound of the
shadow tearing itself from the chair," replied Franklin with a grin.
"Fantastic, isn't it?"

Slowly, the chair's shadow crept
toward them. "The shadow is moving. Stop it! Stop it now!" Carver
demanded as he took several more steps back.

"That's incredible!" This time Carver moved to the stationary
shadow. It looked as if he stood next to a black mass from a haunted house or
some CGI from a horror movie. "Can I touch it?"

Franklin shrugged. "Go ahead. Try it."

Gingerly, Carver reached out to the shadow. As he did, his hand went
right through it as if it were a spirit. Yet, he flinched.

"I feel something, but nothing solid. Like a spider's web, thin and
fragile. That's creepy." Carver moved away from the thing and sat on a
chair that had a shadow.

"Latin seems to work the best. There're a number of times that
Greek commands are not understood. Can you imagine what we can do with the
power to control shadows? No terrorist or any foreign power would ever know
what hit them if they tried to invade the US."

"So, this is what you've been looking to do all these years, create
a weapon?"

"No, not just a weapon, acquire more power. Wait until you see what
I can do with the darkness…" but Franklin's voice trailed as the chair's
shadow attacked him. Viciously, the thing lashed out, ripping the sleeves of
his lab coat.

Quickly he gave the command in Latin, "Desine movment. Sustine me
mandato." The shadow froze.